Erythropoietin Management in Sub-district Health Promotion Hospitals in Phetchaburi Province

Objective: To determine the situations of erythropoietin management of personnel at tambon, or sub-district, health promoting hospitals (SDHPHs) in Petchaburi province, Thailand. Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted from January to March 2017. Questionnaires were mailed to 117 SDHPHs. A director and a staff member of each SDHPH were assigned to be informants. The informants were asked about knowledge and practice on erythropoietin management. The response rate was 64.10%. Results: Most of the respondents were female (89.33%), with the average age of 42.80 years.Most of them had experience in erythropoietin management (58.67%), mostly involving in the drug management (88.00%). Most of the staff members had never been trained on erythropoietin management (97.33%). It was found that 49.34% of SDHPHs provided erythropoietin injection service with a mode of 1 patient per SDHPH receiving the service. Staff members had a moderate level of overall knowledge; while specific knowledge in drug transportation and storage was found at a high level. Overall practice was in the high level. The drug subcutaneous injection was found the most correct practice. Directors of SDHPHs had a low level of agreement in all aspects of erythropoietin management. Specifically, budget management was rated as problematic. Therapeutic monitoring by staff members could be done at a moderate level since there was a lack of data sharing between the network node hospital and SDHPHs. Staff experience and erythropoietin management practice level was related (P-value = 0.048). Most of the directors and staff members needed training for chronic kidney disease care and erythropoietin use. Conclusion: Almost half of personnel at SDHPHs provided erythropoietin injection. They needed more training in erythropoietin management. At present, no specific guideline on the management for SDHPHs is provided. The network node hospital should provide training for these SDHPHs as well as patient data sharing to improve the care patients with chronic kidney disease. Keywords: erythropoietin, chronic kidney disease, sub-district health promoting hospital, managemen